In a posting last month, I mentioned a bill in the DC City Council to use eminent domain to control the cost of drugs. Apparently, the bill's sponsor, David Catania has backed off of the eminent domain argument - see Washington Examiner: News:
Catania, I-at large, on Tuesday circulated a substitute bill that eliminated the eminent domain provision.
He replaced it with language that makes it an "illegal trade practice" to overprice medications.
The substitute authorizes the city to use its "broad police powers" to regulate commerce, Catania said. If a medication's price is determined to be excessive under the District's Consumer Protection and Procedure Act, the mayor could request a compulsory license as a "remedy," Catania said.
A hearing would then determine whether the drug maker loses its patent.
Ross Weber, Catania's spokesman, said the substitute was introduced to "avoid the stickiness of eminent domain" - the practice of taking private property, in this case intellectual property, for public use.
The question still remains -- is a patent "property" that can be seized (with fair compensation) by a local government. Or is a patent a Federally granted monopoly right.
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